Jun 21st, '12, 17:14
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by fracol » Jun 21st, '12, 17:14
I stumbled across this in a Japanese grocery. It was buried behind a bunch of plates and cups, and I was pretty shocked. It is really rare to uncover something like this where I live so of course I jumped on it. The owner wanted to sell it for $50 which sounded like a good price, but I figured I would run it by the teachat pro's.
It looks like real, quality hagi to me, but I know very little about hagi teaware. I am definitely interested in what you guys think about it. It would also be fantastic if anyone could translate. The pictures were taken by a cell phone, but I think the quality is decent.
Looking forward to your thoughts and comments!
Jun 21st, '12, 17:20
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by AdamMY » Jun 21st, '12, 17:20
It looks like a Kumi-dashi set of cups. Potentially hagi ( though mostly looks like a larger production kiln, such as Tenzopan). Though it doesn't quite look like the Tenzopan set I had previously, which I traded with Chip. What worries me is while Hagi is known for crackling, it usually doesn't overtly show the crackling until it stains with use. My guess would be a Japanese attempt at Celadon.
Either way it looks like a decent find, and while 50 might be slightly high if its from a very large production kiln, you do not need to pay Shipping from Japan so things even themselves out slightly. Again take my guess at its provenance very lightly.
Jun 21st, '12, 17:30
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by Drax » Jun 21st, '12, 17:30
Agreed on the celadon. I have a set of 4 or 5 cups in a similar box that are Japanese celadon (no 'spots' on the side, though... and a different style of glaze, but still celadon). I bought mine for $10 (at auction), but did have to pay shipping, so take that for what it's worth!
The box in the first picture is upside-down, but in the corner (upper right, well, upper right with it upside down) appears to say Kouzan (幸山) and symbol after it might be kama/gama (kiln, 窯)... not versed well on Japanese kilns/makers, so that might be a well-known one...
Jun 21st, '12, 20:30
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by Chip » Jun 21st, '12, 20:30
50 bucks works out to 10 a cup. Not too bad and not too great. The pieces are made of clay apparently, could be Hagi. But for mass produced pieces, does it really matter?
If you like them and feel they are worth this price to you ... go for it. If in doubt, pass on them ... there are plenty of other teaware pieces out there.
Jun 22nd, '12, 02:57
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by sriracha » Jun 22nd, '12, 02:57
As far as I can tell from the picture they look a lot like a pair of fairly thick/heavy cups I own, but mine are a pale, yellow-toned green with the colour of the clay showing through some of the cracks. I have also seen teal cups like these.
Underneath mine was a small sticker saying 'Made in Japan'.
I got mine at a furniture/interior decoration shop so no other info about them.
Jun 22nd, '12, 05:27
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Location: Melbourne, Australia
by robbie_olive » Jun 22nd, '12, 05:27
Just read up on this particular kiln on their website (in Japanese only), and Kouzan-gama is located in Fukushima prefecture. It seems that it's a mass production kiln that mainly produces Soma pottery, but nevertheless, the set you bought is quite pretty.
Cheers
Jun 22nd, '12, 13:24
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by JBaymore » Jun 22nd, '12, 13:24
